American Horror Story: Delicate embraces its comparisons to the 1968 horror movie Rosemary’s Baby in this week’s episode, “Little Gold Man,” with an opener that directly references Mia Farrow‘s real-life experiences with disgraced director Roman Polanski.
The horror classic follows the titular character as she becomes pregnant and begins experiencing strange occurrences. Rosemary grows untrusting of those around her and soon discovers the dark truth about her offspring.
The 12th season of Ryan Murphy‘s hit anthology series finds the main character Anna Victoria Alcott (Emma Roberts) going on a similar journey. She uses IVF to help her conceive a baby and meets several usual personalities around her fertility clinic. Anna eventually notices a cult of people stalking her and trying to control her every move.
Since the show premiered in September 2023, several parallels have been noted between the two stories. Collider called the season a “modern remake” of the popular horror flick and Polygon wrote that the season’s trailer “wears the Rosemary’s Baby influence on its sleeve.”
Episode 8, which aired April 17 on FX, has now confirmed the suspicions by including a direct reference to the flick. The episode opens with a flashback featuring newcomers Gaby Slape and Tom O’Keefe as a young Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra.
While at a restaurant, Frank gives Mia an ultimatum: him or acting. The jazz singer is dismissive of Mia’s protests and insists that she makes sacrifices for his career and her future motherhood. “How do you expect to be a good mother if this is what you’re chasing,” he asks. In the end, Frank tells Mia that if she returns to shoot her movie then their relationship is over.
The scene cuts and shows Mia on the set of Rosemary’s Baby and reenacts the infamous story of Polanski making her walk into ongoing traffic to film an intense sequence, despite her protests. The actor playing the director delivers the line he reportedly told Farrow in real life, “Don’t worry, Mia! Nobody’s going to hit a pregnant woman.”
The episode quickly returns to its regular programming with Kim Kardashian’s dubious publicist character appearing to calm Mia after she retreats to her dressing room, before returning to Anna’s storyline.
As mentioned, much of the opener is derived from real events. Farrow and Sinatra had a public relationship and split while she was filming Rosemary’s Baby, and Farrow’s dangerous stunt while filming the movie has been documented repeatedly.
Slash Film recalled the stunt in a 2022 article, writing that Polanski directed Farrow to walk through busy Manhattan traffic in the scene which shows a pregnant Rosemary in a dazed state. Farrow reportedly expressed concern for her safety, which Polanski dismissed and said, “nobody will hit a pregnant woman.” Eventually, Farrow was convinced to film the scene, which Polanski shot with a handheld camera as “no one else was willing to take the risk.”
With Delicate making the direct parallel between its story and Rosemary’s Baby, it’s clear that they’re never beating the allegations. Even more so, it seems that the series doesn’t want to!
American Horror Story: Delicate airs Wednesdays on FX and streams next-day on Hulu.
